


Ever After

by kellysaur



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellysaur/pseuds/kellysaur
Summary: The worst part of dying is dealing with the aftermath.
Relationships: Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Ever After

Kravitz plants his feet in front of Taako, brandishing his scythe towards the wriggling mass of Hunger in front of him. 

A tentacle lashes out. He feels the impact, feels himself flying to the side for a brief moment before he smashes against the ground. 

Pain shoots through his body. Sharp, agonizing pain. It takes a moment for his body to fix itself, for his bones to shift into place and fuse back together. 

Finally, he’s healed enough that he can lift himself. He pushes himself up on shaking hands and looks over in Taako’s direction. 

He has to make sure he’s safe. 

But Taako is staring at him with concern. A spell sizzles out in his hands. 

And then Kravitz sees it. 

A tendril launches itself in Taako’s direction.

“Taako!”

He’s barely aware of the shrillness of his own voice as he screams. All he knows is the collision of the Hunger into Taako’s chest—the spurt of blood as Taako stumbles backwards. 

Kravitz is on his feet. He’s running forward, towards Taako—

\--And he catches him, just as the tendril pulls away. 

The dust settles. 

Kravitz sits amidst the chaos, crumpled to the ground. His cloak pools around him, the feathers soaked with blood from the lifeless body he holds in his arms. 

“What happened?” Magnus and Merle run over and drop to their knees beside him. 

“Shit,” Merle frowns as he begins to channel a spell. Kravitz wants to tell him it’s pointless, but he can’t bring himself to say it. He can’t bring himself to _believe_ it. 

“You were supposed to be protecting him,” Magnus whispers. 

“I—I _know,_ I—” 

Merle lays his hands on Taako’s chest, and immediately they’re dyed red with his blood. He mumbles the words for a healing spell. 

A divine glow consumes Taako’s body. 

And then it fades away. 

“ _Shit,_ ” Merle hisses again. He presses his hands together, no doubt to prepare another spell, but Kravitz just pulls Taako’s body closer to his chest. 

“He’s gone, Merle.”

Merle stares at him, dumbfounded. Behind him, Magnus sheds silent tears. 

They have to keep fighting. The Hunger is still here. If they don’t _fight—_

But is a world without Taako really worth fighting for? 

Kravitz rockets to his feet, Taako still in his arms. “I have to go.”

“What?” Magnus wipes his eyes on his sleeve. “Where do you think you’re _going?_ The Hunger—” 

“I have to get him home,” Kravitz pleads. “I’m sorry. I have to get him home.”

He doesn’t wait for a response. A rift opens behind him, and he stumbles through it.  
\--

The rift leads to his bedroom. His _old_ bedroom—the one before he moved in with Taako. It’s been a long time since he’s been here, but he doesn’t take time to dwell on the fact that it’s exactly as he left it. 

He lays Taako down on his bed. Immediately, the blood on his hands fades away. 

He watches, desperate, as the gaping hole in Taako’s chest knits itself back together. 

And then Taako lurches into sitting, gasping for breath. 

Only then does Kravitz allow himself to cry. 

He reaches for Taako’s hand as he buries his face in the soft mattress and sobs. 

“Hey.” Taako squeezes his hand. “It’s okay, babe. I’m right here. I’m fine.”

Kravitz forces himself to lift his head and gives it a small shake. “Taako…”

And then Taako seems to realize where he is. He scans the room anxiously. “Why are we here?”

Kravitz squeezes his eyes closed and offers another shake of his head. This is too much. 

“Kravitz. _Why are we here?_ ”

He can’t get the words out. Tears spill down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I was supposed to protect you. I was supposed to keep you safe.”

_”Fuck!”_ Taako screams, slamming his free hand into the mattress. 

And then he’s crying, too. He pulls himself free from Kravitz’s hold and buries his face in his hands. Sobs shake his body. 

\--

Kravitz doesn’t leave his side. A war rages on around them, but Kravitz can barely find it in him to care. 

Taako’s tears eventually dry, and he searches for Kravitz’s hand again. He gives it a tight squeeze, his body shaking. 

After a long while, Taako falls asleep. 

Kravitz brushes a hair from Taako’s face. _I did this,_ he thinks. _This is my fault._

He doesn’t know how long Taako sleeps. He isn’t aware of the passage of time—or much anything else, really. 

A rift opens in the air behind him, and he jumps. Lup floats through, with Barry close behind her. Kravitz shoots to his feet. 

“Where is he?” 

Kravitz steps to the side. “He’s sleeping,” he explains. But Lup is already shaking him awake.

Taako sits up, groggy, and is wrapped in the warm embrace of his sister. 

That’s something, at least. Alive, Taako wouldn’t be able to touch her lich form. 

She weeps openly into his shoulder. Tears of flame fall down her cheeks, down his already ruined shirt, and onto the bed before sizzling out. She cries, and her form wavers, and Taako sits there numbly. 

“The Raven Queen brought us here,” Barry explains unprompted. His cheeks are stained with tears, too. “How is he?”

Kravitz just shakes his head. How is he supposed to answer that? Taako is _dead_. He’d never be able to return home. Never be able to see his family or his friends. 

“Right,” Barry says as he clears his throat, “I guess that was a dumb question.”

Taako still hasn’t lifted his arms to hug his sister back. He just sits there, his eyes closed, as the tears begin to spill again. 

“We won,” Lup whispers into her brother’s ear. “The Hunger is gone for good.”

\--

Things change. 

Lup and Barry are recruited as Reapers. Slowly, people begin to piece the world back together. 

Taako doesn’t leave Kravitz’s room. 

“Hey,” Taako calls out as Kravitz shrugs on his cloak. It’s a new one, not stained with his blood. “I miss you.”

Kravitz doesn’t look at him. He never looks at him, anymore. “I have to go. I’m sorry.” 

He cuts a rift, steps through, and is gone. 

Taako wants to scream. 

\--

_A dark, opalescent tendril throws Kravitz to the side. He hits the ground with a sickening crunch._

_”Krav!” Taako’s concentration is broken. The Grim Reaper can’t die. Right?_

_Kravitz pushes himself up weakly, and Taako feels a flood of relief. He’s going to be okay. He’s—_

_”Taako!” Kravitz shrieks. It’s unlike anything Taako’s ever heard. It’s a warning, he realizes. And he turns—_

_Another tendril hits him in the chest, hard enough that pain sears the edge of his vision. He stumbles backwards, and he looks down…_

_He feels pain—the worst pain he’s ever felt._

_And everything goes black._

He wakes with a start, a scream still on his lips. The dark comforter is tangled around him, constricting his legs. His breathing is shallow, frantic. He tangles a hand in his hair and pulls in a desperate attempt to ground himself. 

He needs Kravitz. 

But he’s alone. 

\--

Kravitz sits on the edge of the bed with his back to Taako. It’s the closest they’ve been since he woke up here. 

Taako clears his throat. “Hey.”

Kravitz still won’t look at him. 

And Taako is sick of it. He reaches out and grabs Kravitz’s wrist. Kravitz tries to pull away, but Taako holds on tight.

“Taako,” Kravitz begs, his gaze turned to the floor. _”Please._ ”

He’s shaking, Taako realizes. 

Still, he pushes onward. “We can’t keep doing this. It’s _killing_ me.” 

Kravitz flinches at his choice of words and yanks his wrist free. “I have to go.”

He turns to leave, to open a portal anywhere but here, when Taako calls out. 

“Did you only love me because I was alive?”

Kravitz feels a dagger in his heart. He turns, slowly, to face Taako. Tears well in his eyes. “Of course not.”

“Did you ever love me at all?”

Kravitz squeezes his eyes shut and forces himself to breathe. Guilt twists in his gut. “Taako, I love you with everything I have.”

“Then fucking _act_ like it!” Taako slaps the mattress with an open palm, and it’s just loud enough to make Kravitz jump. “You won’t even fucking _look_ at me. How am I supposed to believe that?”

Kravitz felt a twinge of anger mix with the guilt. “How can you look at _me?_ I’m the reason you’re dead.”

Taako laughs, hollow and dark. “Is that what this is about? You think _you_ killed me?”

“I _did_ ,” Kravitz argues. Why doesn’t he get it? “If I hadn’t been there—” 

“I would have died a lot fucking sooner,” Taako finishes. 

Kravitz’s frown deepens. “You can’t really believe—” 

“Listen, Bones. I’ve lost basically everything. I can’t afford to lose you, too.”

Kravitz swallows down his tears. “I can’t do this right now, Taako. I’m sorry.”

“Where do you keep _going?”_

“Away,” Kravitz answers quietly. “Anywhere but here.”

He’s gone before Taako can object.

\--

Taako doesn’t look up as a rift opens into the room. No doubt it’s Kravitz, home for only a few spare moments before he leaves again.

But it isn’t Kravitz that steps through. It’s Lup, her phantasmal hands filled with plastic bags. 

“Hey,” she says. “How’re you feeling?”

“Dead,” Taako answers flatly.

Her shoulders sag. “That’s not funny, Taako.”

He only shrugs. “I’m not trying to be funny.”

She holds up the bags. “I brought the ingredients for Auntie’s stew. Figured we could cook together.”

“What’s the point?” Taako bristles. “It’s not like I need to eat.”

Her form shudders, and it takes a moment for her to steady it again. “We’re fucking cooking, Taako.”

He doesn’t have it in him to object, so he pushes himself off the bed and follows her to Kravitz’s kitchen. It’s small and lacking.

He misses his kitchen back home. 

She holds out a knife and a carrot for him to take, but he crosses his arms over his chest instead. With a sigh, she begins to slice it up herself. “I know I didn’t know him before, but Skeletor doesn’t seem to be doing too well.”

“I noticed.” Taako leans against the counter and stares at the floor boards.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Taako shrugs. “Not much to talk about.”

Lup’s knife makes a loud _thunk_ against the cutting board. _”Taako.”_

He bites his lip. “He won’t even look at me, Lup. He’s all I have and he’s pretending I don’t exist.”

“I’ll talk to him.” It’s a statement, not an offer. “Wanna cut the onions?”

This time, Taako takes the knife.

\--

Lup has Kravitz cornered. 

“What do you think you’re doing, treating him like that?”

Kravitz sets his jaw and stares past her. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t?” Lup’s body flares angrily. “I’m a _lich._ That’s my _brother._ What do I not understand?”

_Any_ of it, Kravitz thinks. Taako’s death was his fault, and it’s only a matter of time before he figures that out.

“He says you’re not even looking at him. What the fuck is your problem?”

“I can’t,” Kravitz whispers. “Every time I look at him, I remember.” The scene plays every time he looks at Taako, every time he closes his eyes. If he’d just done _something_ differently—

“You think he’s not thinking about it? You think he doesn’t need help working through this?”

Kravitz doesn’t answer. 

“He fucking _died._ You know what that’s like better than anyone.”

“Lup, I—” 

“You’re the one he needs the most right now.”

\--

Kravitz steps through the rift. But instead of turning around, he runs forward and wraps Taako in his cool embrace. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers through his tears, “I’m so sorry, Taako.”

“It’s not your fault,” Taako croaks out. The sudden contact after weeks of nothing is overwhelming, but it’s all he wants. 

“No, this whole… _thing_ ,” Kravitz sobs. “I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long. I’ve been so _selfish—_ ”

“But it’s over now, right?” Taako raises his arms to hug him back, to pull him as close as he can. “We’re done ignoring each other?”

“Yes,” Kravitz laughs through his tears, “It’s over.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, please leave a comment/kudos! It really means a lot to me <3


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